It’s widely known that Meghan Markle has been eager to establish connections akin to those of the Kardashian family.

From giving them shout-outs on Instagram to sending personalized jars of jam and sharing the same security and hairstyling experts, the Duchess of Sussex, alongside her husband Prince Harry, has cultivated numerous ties with the well-known clan over time.

In August 2023, Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, 69, had an unexpected encounter with Kris Jenner and her daughter Kim Kardashian, 45, at a charity event in Los Angeles.

Earlier, in May 2023, the Duchess, 44, reportedly strengthened her connection with the Kardashian-Jenner family by hiring Kim’s former bodyguard.

Fast forward to March 2024, Harry, 41, enjoyed a ski trip with Kris’ partner Corey Gamble. The following month, Meghan sent Kris a special preview of her homemade fruit preserves and continued to shower the family with gifts from her lifestyle brand over the summer.

Their networking endeavors seemed to bear fruit when Harry and Meghan graced Kris’ star-studded 70th birthday party, held at Jeff Bezos’s opulent $165 million Beverly Hills estate, over the weekend.

Yet the connections built between the two families might be on the verge of crumbling due to the storm over deleted pictures of Meghan and Harry inside the party, which has allegedly bewildered the Kardashians.

Candid photos of the Duke and Duchess cosying up to the birthday girl – and Harry sashaying towards her on the dancefloor – were all mysteriously deleted from Kris and Kim’s Instagram posts.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen leaving Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party at Jeff Bezos’ home in Beverly Hills

People Magazine, the Sussexes’ preferred publication in the US, claimed that Meghan and Harry asked that no photographs of them inside the James Bond-themed party were published.

The publication also claimed that it understood the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ticked a ‘no’ box on a photo consent form, leading to the party images of them on Instagram being removed.

‘Kim was like “you’ve already been papped outside and you were at the Baby2Baby event the same night being photographed like Meghan Trainor and Paris Hilton so what’s the problem?”,’ the source said, adding: ‘Kim is pi**ed off’.

A source close to Kim has denied this. 

Claims guests had to sign consent forms have also since been refuted, with a source telling the Daily Mail ‘there were no consent forms’ – leading to renewed speculation as to why the photos vanished. 

Kris’ Instagram post-party round-up showed a series of pictures of her with Meghan and Harry. Her daughter Kim shared a picture of herself posing with the Duchess. But these were later deleted, reportedly due to the Sussexes’ consent form. 

Despite the images being deleted, the pictures of Harry and Meghan are being shared on social media and were published by several websites in the United States. 

The first hint of a link between Meghan and the Kardashians appeared in 2023, when Harry and Meghan attended a surprise vow renewal ceremony between Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia De Rossi.

Kris Jenner, Doria Ragland and Kim Kardashian attend the This Is About Humanity’s fifth anniversary event

The ceremony was held at the presenter’s $70 million Montecito mansion – and officiated by none other than Kris.

Meghan further maintained her Kardashian connections in the summer of that year when she was spotted out and about at Beyoncé concerts in LA.

The Duchess, who attended two LA dates in the singer’s Renaissance tour, was pictured partying in an exclusive box where she brushed shoulders with VIPs including Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos – and Kris.

Meanwhile, in the May, it was reported that the Duchess had hired Kim’s former bodyguard after being spotted with the American reality star’s ex-muscle.

The pair have also used the same hairdresser before; Michael Silva has proudly shared the results of his work on both women on his Instagram previously.

According to People, Michael was behind Kim’s 2017 Met Gala look and worked with Meghan when she was still on the TV show Suits.

Then, in August 2023, Meghan’s mother Doria was snapped speaking with ‘momager’ Kris and her daughter Kim at the This Is About Humanity’s fifth annual soiree in Los Angeles.

This Is Humanity works to raise awareness about separated and reunified families and children at the border.

Kris Jenner shared a snap of the wine Meghan sent her – while remembering to tag the Duchess and her brand As Ever

Kardashian matriarch Kris posted a photo of Meghan’s jam on Instagram, confirming the Duchess’s Kardashian connections

As the trio posed for photos, they embraced and beamed, looking very pally as they cosied up to each other. 

In another sign that the Sussexes were becoming close to the Kardashian-Jenners, Prince Harry was spotted skiing with Kris’ boyfriend Corey Gamble.

The Duke was understood to have enjoyed the glories of Aspen, America’s swankiest ski resort in Coloradon, in the company of business executive Corey Gamble in March 2024.

A source said that Harry had been hitting the slopes with Gamble, as well as Bumble dating app billionaire Whitney Wolfe and her husband Michael Herd, whom she met on a previous skiing trip. However, there was no sign of Meghan on the pistes.

A month later Kris proudly displayed on her Instagram a jar of Meghan’s jams from her lifestyle brand – and it wouldn’t be the last gift that the reality TV star received from the Duchess.

The Kardashian matriarch shared a photo on her Stories of a present the Duchess had sent in August 2025 – bottles of her 2024 Napa Valley Rosé wine from her As Ever range.

In addition to sharing a photo of the wine on her social media, Kris tagged both Meghan’s Instagram account as well as As Ever’s, saying, ‘thank you’.

The Duchess also sent Khloe Kardashian a deluxe hamper from her brand, which included bottles of wine, preserves and an array of vegetables.

Meghan also appears to have close ties to Chrissy Teigen, a model who runs a cooking empire, Cravings – and who is also close friends with the Kardashians, pictured with Kim in 2015

However, when Khloe shared snaps from sister Kylie Jenner’s 28th birthday party over the weekend, including a picture of the hamper, she seemingly forgot to tag Meghan in the post. 

That didn’t stop the former senior royal from delightedly reposting the snap, writing ‘Hey hey, all my girls with a K’ on the post, but fans called out the famed family’s failure to acknowledge Meghan.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Kim also have a number of pals in common – including Chrissy Teigen, Paris Hilton and Prince Harry’s ‘father figure’ and friend David Foster, who was previously married to Linda Thompson, ex-wife of Caitlyn Jenner.

As well as sharing the same acquaintances, Meghan and Kim also share a number of fashion views, and have been photographed stepping out in some similar outfits over the years. 

Elsewhere, experts have speculated that Meghan could be set to launch a Kardashian-style ‘mega brand’ after she was spotted cosying up to the British Dragon’s Den star who masterminded Kim’s hugely popular Skims range.

Multi-millionaire Emma Grede, who is also the driving force behind Khloe’s successful Good American jeans brand, recently shared a flurry of posts featuring the Duchess as the ‘star guest’ at her Los Angeles vegan banquet, which celebrated women ‘owning their power’ and helping ‘each other get s**t done’.

In her post, Ms Grede quipped: ‘Not my typical Wednesday after work’ before showing behind-the-scenes footage from the evening, with Meghan’s 2024 ‘As Ever’ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc flowing throughout the evening.

Previous Instagram posts by Ms Grede, who is currently enjoying a turn as a guest dragon on BBC’s Dragon’s Den, show Meghan carefully positioned to her right-hand side, the pair sharing a joke and then posing next to each other in ‘power outfits’.

She said: ‘This dinner series is about making that energy ours. About women coming together to share openly, trade resources, and help each other get s**t done.

‘Because when women choose to collaborate, to champion each other, and to speak honestly about the highs and the hard parts, we don’t just change our own stories. We change what’s possible for every woman who follows.

‘Here’s to more seats, more voices, and more women leading, building, and owning their power’.

PR experts speculated that Ms Grede’s posts could be the biggest indication yet that the Duchess is set to launch a new venture.

Rumours of a potential new business for the Duchess spread after she recently posted two clips on Instagram showing her applying lipstick – with the brand names obscured.

It’s a ‘tell-tale sign’ she may be gearing up to promote her own range, industry sources said at the time.

One told The Mail on Sunday: ‘On her Instagram reel, the make-up lined up on her dressing table was unbranded or had the brand labels obscured, which felt deliberate.

‘That’s a tell-tale sign Meghan has something in the pipeline. The fact she didn’t want to promote or reveal any other brand is a big clue that she’s gearing up to promote her own range eventually – it is a sign for industry insiders.’